An Occupy Philadelphia Wedding

Occupy Wall Street movements across the country have spawned spectacles of all sorts: raucous bongo drum circles, performance art and, now, a wedding at the Occupy Philadelphia encampment.

Alicia Nauss, 24, met Adam Hill, 27, 32 days ago, when they both showed up to staff the information tent on the first day of Occupy Philadelphia Oct. 6. They’ve been together ever since.

The couple decided to tie the knot two weeks ago, when Hill brought the idea up in casual conversation, Nauss said.

Now Nauss and Hill plan to tour Occupy Wall Street locations in other cities on their honeymoon, starting with Norristown, Pa., Hill’s hometown.

“There’s only about 20 guys down there right now,” Hill said of the fledgling Norristown movement. “We’ll be trying to boost morale and talk to them, to give them some inspiration with our story.”

Hill also hopes to spend time with his mother, who wasn’t able to make it to the ceremony Sunday.

As for the rest of his family, they were shocked but supportive of the engagement.

“I’ve been saying since the dawn of time that I would never be married, and the fact that it happened in 32 days surprised everyone,” Hill said.

This is Nauss’ second marriage. Her daughter, Rhys, 2, looked on as Baptist minister and local philosophy professor Michael Pierce pronounced the couple husband and wife Sunday afternoon.

Alex Brandon/AP

About 150 people attended the wedding, which came together with the support of Nauss and Hill’s friends in the movement. Before the ceremony, Nauss composed herself in a public restroom near the encampment and walked out in a donated David’s bridal gown to meet her groom.

And afterward, there was cake; enough to feed more than 60 people, thanks to the efforts of two chefs who donate their time to cook in the movement’s food committee, Hill said. The sugary mass was too large to fit on a plate, so the organizers improvised and presented the cake on a piece of plywood covered in foil.

Nauss and Hill hadn’t requested wedding gifts. They instead asked family and friends who attended the ceremony to donate warm clothing and food to the Occupy encampment.

Nauss looks forward to a fresh start as a “new family,” she said. But for now the future is uncertain. Nauss knows she wants to travel to other Occupy encampments to boost morale, but when and where she and Hill can travel will depend on their financial circumstances.

Nauss, living on unemployment relief, said she was fired from a job as a sales coordinator for a corporation after she joined the Occupy Philadelphia movement.

Hill, an independent contractor, has put his work on hold to participate in the protests in the past month.

Regardless of financial difficulties, Nauss said, she hopes her story will inspire other protesters. “[On our honeymoon] we would be going around getting our story out there and encouraging people … we want to get people amped up about the movement.”